The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle
Abstract The Heliospheric Imagers on board National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s twin STEREO spacecraft show that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can be visually complex structures. To explore this complexity, we created a citizen science project with the U.K. Science Museum, in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Space Weather |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002556 |
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| _version_ | 1841536303026405376 |
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| author | S. R. Jones C. J. Scott L. A. Barnard R. Highfield C. J. Lintott E. Baeten |
| author_facet | S. R. Jones C. J. Scott L. A. Barnard R. Highfield C. J. Lintott E. Baeten |
| author_sort | S. R. Jones |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The Heliospheric Imagers on board National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s twin STEREO spacecraft show that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can be visually complex structures. To explore this complexity, we created a citizen science project with the U.K. Science Museum, in which participants were shown pairs of CME images and asked to decide which image in each pair appeared the most “complicated.” A Bradley‐Terry model was then applied to these data to rank the CMEs by their “complicatedness,” or “visual complexity.” This complexity ranking revealed that the annual average visual complexity values follow the solar activity cycle, with a higher level of complexity being observed at the peak of the cycle. The average complexity of CMEs observed by STEREO‐A was also found to be significantly higher than those observed by STEREO‐B. Visual complexity was found to be associated with CME size and brightness, but our results suggest that complexity may be influenced by the scale‐sizes of structure in the CMEs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-08515f7c8ee24344a5ec0551521c1745 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1542-7390 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Space Weather |
| spelling | doaj-art-08515f7c8ee24344a5ec0551521c17452025-01-14T16:35:28ZengWileySpace Weather1542-73902020-10-011810n/an/a10.1029/2020SW002556The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar CycleS. R. Jones0C. J. Scott1L. A. Barnard2R. Highfield3C. J. Lintott4E. Baeten5Department of Meteorology University of Reading Reading UKDepartment of Meteorology University of Reading Reading UKDepartment of Meteorology University of Reading Reading UKScience Museum Group London UKDepartment of Physics University of Oxford Oxford UKC/o Zooniverse, Department of Physics University of Oxford Oxford UKAbstract The Heliospheric Imagers on board National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s twin STEREO spacecraft show that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can be visually complex structures. To explore this complexity, we created a citizen science project with the U.K. Science Museum, in which participants were shown pairs of CME images and asked to decide which image in each pair appeared the most “complicated.” A Bradley‐Terry model was then applied to these data to rank the CMEs by their “complicatedness,” or “visual complexity.” This complexity ranking revealed that the annual average visual complexity values follow the solar activity cycle, with a higher level of complexity being observed at the peak of the cycle. The average complexity of CMEs observed by STEREO‐A was also found to be significantly higher than those observed by STEREO‐B. Visual complexity was found to be associated with CME size and brightness, but our results suggest that complexity may be influenced by the scale‐sizes of structure in the CMEs.https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002556coronal mass ejectionscitizen sciencesolar cycle |
| spellingShingle | S. R. Jones C. J. Scott L. A. Barnard R. Highfield C. J. Lintott E. Baeten The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle Space Weather coronal mass ejections citizen science solar cycle |
| title | The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle |
| title_full | The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle |
| title_fullStr | The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle |
| title_short | The Visual Complexity of Coronal Mass Ejections Follows the Solar Cycle |
| title_sort | visual complexity of coronal mass ejections follows the solar cycle |
| topic | coronal mass ejections citizen science solar cycle |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002556 |
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